The past year plus in Scottish
football has seen a gap widening between Rangers and the national game.
Beginning with the incompetent George Burley regime which saw a significant
fracture grow between Ibrox and the SFA, it continued further with the Levein
era and led to what can now only be described as a complete impasse between
Rangers, as both a club and support, and the national side.
I should stress, before going any
further, that this impasse may have been mildly instigated by Burley’s abject
management, but I am not blaming him, Levein or current manager Gordon Strachan
for the massive chasm which now firmly roots itself between Hampden and Ibrox.
Quite simply, it seems regardless
of form, Rangers players are not of interest to the national team except as
squad filler should others withdraw. There have been many Scotland
matches in the past 18 months but David Templeton, to name just one example,
has not been called up once. Lee Wallace has had a couple of call ups but the
inept right-back Steven Whittaker has made left-back his own. The best Scottish
left full-back around, Lee Wallace, has to be content with sitting on the bench
while notably Belgium’s
first goal on Saturday came, yes, from their right flank.
Of course I am not blaming
Whittaker for Scotland losing, and indeed I actually supported his selection
against England on the basis of his more regular ‘contact’ with higher quality
opponents in the English Premier League, playing for Norwich as he does.
However his ghastly display in that match and the compounding factor that Saturday’s
world cup qualifier V Belgium was an effective friendly suggests the better
player, Lee Wallace, really should have started. Wallace is in spectacular form
and deserved the match, even if his recent opponents have been Albion Rovers
and not Manchester United.
But this is a microcosm of the
situation at present which blocks any kind of olive branch between Mount Florida’s
finest and Govan.
The latest act to burn yet more
bridges was Celtic’s Peter Lawwell being promoted to the executive board of the
SFA, while Rangers, despite being the biggest club in the country, continue to
have zero representation at that level. And, trivial though it is, Lawwell’s
first act appeared to be ditching Rangers-supporting Flower of Scotland-warbler
Amy MacDonald and replacing her with someone called Nina Nesbitt. This kind of
small touch adds up.
The only consistent Rangers
representation through the entire national game’s hierarchy, off-pitch and on
is the orientation of assistant coach Stuart McCall. While he considers himself
a Rangers fan, having played for the club, his allegiances have to be with his
employers Motherwell. They are his best interests, not Ibrox.
So, with absolutely zero clout or
influence upon the national team and those running the Scottish game, Rangers
appear to completely marginalised now. Regardless of the club’s standing in the
world of football, and its pedigree in the history of the national game, it is
a completely ignored institution by those with power.
This is, of course, a completely
absurd equation. Rangers, despite being in League 1, remain one of the biggest
clubs in the UK.
Only Hampden (and Wembley), Emirates, Celtic
Park, and Old Trafford
are as big or bigger than Ibrox. Only the likes of aforementioned Celtic and
the big English clubs can match Rangers’ global appeal, even if, as discussed
in a previous blog, the club are not doing anywhere near enough to cultivate
its brand at present.
It is a quite abhorrent debacle
that one of Britain’s
largest institutional clubs has now absolutely no influence on its national
association. And that any previous influence was quite simply taken away from
it by those who flouted the law, and wished to see the club dead. That
‘journalists’ and ‘reporters’ like Jim Spence and Tom English spout the ‘dead
club’ line. I highly doubt they consider Leeds, Fiorentina, Portsmouth,
Coventry or Middlesbrough
‘dead clubs’ – but then, these clubs do not attract the level of attention,
spite and petty hate Rangers have.
This small-minded bureaucracy is
why the divide between Rangers and Scotland is not only as large as
ever, but ever growing.
Question is, will Rangers still
be denied their seat at the table when they return to the SPL?